Passage: Galatians 5:1, 13-14, 16-17, 19-22
1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.
19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these … 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
Paul spent a lot of time struggling with, and explaining carefully in his letters, how a life in Christ frees us from the condemnation we would experience living under the law. While Paul may not always have said things in ways that are easy to understand, his insights into matters of faith are profound, and the illumination he provides for our individual and communal lives in the body of Christ is worth the struggle.
A few days earlier, we learned about a life in the flesh, which is not simply our physical body, but our whole self, held under the power of sin. Because we are broken, a life under the law can only condemn us, whereas being justified by faith sets us free from condemnation; and as we are transformed by our life in Christ, freed to live in the Spirit rather than under the power of the flesh. “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul declares that faith in Christ gives us our liberty from a life directed solely by negatives – one governed only by rules and restrictions, a life of “oughts” and “must nots” – to an existence directed toward the positive goal of love of neighbor.
While Paul pronounces us free, he does so with a warning not to become enslaved again by our flesh. Our freedom is not just permission for self-gratification. Paul is not simply telling us, as pop-psychology once did, to “just be who you are”. For he was aware that self-indulgence easily becomes a new form of slavery. The self of the flesh, it seems, is never fully content. It can never satisfy its need for admiration, status, affluence, or pleasure. Rather, Paul is announcing that we are set free to serve our neighbor: “[B]ut through love become slaves to one another.” Paul even finds a place where life in the Spirit and the works of the law are unified, in his quote from Leviticus, “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Interestingly, the verb Paul chooses (translated here as “summed up”) could also be translated “fulfilled”. Could it be that Paul intends both meanings? Is he saying that this commandment sums up the intent of the whole law; and loving and serving one’s neighbor fulfills the entirety of the law?
Eventually, Paul gives us some specific examples to distinguish between a life according to the flesh and a life in the Spirit; and he explains that these two lives exist in complete opposition to one another. The “works of the flesh” which Paul lists, reminds us that our brokenness includes, but is much more than, indulging our individual desires (fornication, impurity, licentiousness, … drunkenness, carousing). Over half of these “works of the flesh” Paul notes, involve matters of the heart, the mind, and our speech which affect our relationships with God and one another. Eight of them encompass offenses which would breed division within the community of faith (enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy). Paul makes certain we don’t overlook the point that these “works of the flesh” which harm relationships are perhaps more destructive than the scandalous personal ones which tend to receive more notoriety.
While Paul describes multiple “works” or the flesh, he significantly places love at the beginning of his list of the “fruit”, not fruits, of the Spirit, in that oft quoted inventory near the end of our passage. Paul is directing us to his point that the fruit of the Spirit is love, with all of these other qualities emanating from it: “joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In a brief statement that perhaps best contrasts the works of the law with the fruit of faith in Christ, Paul says succinctly, “There is no law against such things.” He could have just as easily said that there is no law for such things. He is noting that the Spirit not the law bears this fruit, and that the Spirit fulfills conditions beyond those which the law requires.
One important question clearly remains as we consider this illuminating passage. How as Christians do we elicit this fruit of the Spirit and subdue those works of the flesh? My simple answer would be practice. We nurture daily rhythms of prayer, fellowship, and reflection which foster these gracious attributes. We also should pay attention to the actions and words which emanate from ourselves, and when we glimpse the undesirable works which our brokenness begets, we should become alerted that we living outside the Spirit of Christ.
According to Native American lore, there is a fable of an old chief, who was instructing his grandson about this struggle for our souls. He began, “There is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, regret, greed, arrogance, pride, superiority. The other is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, compassion, generosity, and truth.” To his grandson he disclosed, “The same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person.” With concern, the grandson asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The wise chief smiled and replied, “The one you feed.”
It does seem that making this Lenten journey among folks of similar outlook has helped me stay focused on my purpose for setting out in the first place. The company is affirming, and I have more perspective when the trip grows challenging or unpleasant.
Prayer: Thanks Lord, for your Spirit, which supports and directs me when my flesh is weak. Help me realize when I am pulled toward my own brokenness, so that I might draw close to You, and find guidance in your presence.
Amen.